All Forum Posts by: Garen T.

Hey @Caleb Heimsoth. What about C) Take her a plate of cookies, and then do nothing?

I do get what you are saying. Of all the horrible things that could be going on, this is WAY down the list. I'm honestly just stunned that she would leave this sitting there. I'm a problem solver, this appears to me to be a problem, so I try to solve it by action. Your perspectives are valid however, maybe the problem is very easily be solved. Just get over it. 

How does everyone deal with problems that are caused by problem neighbors.

I'm going to be listing a duplex as available in about 6 weeks. However, the lady across the street from me has an RV parked in a way that is ugly and not fitting with the rest of the houses. I've talked to the man who owns 3 rentals right next to this, and he received feedback from the management company that an interested tenant walked away, and mentioned this as the reason. 

Who parks their RV like this, for over a month now with no sign of anything getting better? 

1. She is not allowed to park it on her grass section. The county has already gotten after her about that. She has to keep it on paved section. So now, she parks her car in the garage and drives across the grass to get out. The trailer was originally parked where the brown spot is in the lawn. 

2. We (myself and the man who owns the other 3) are thinking of offering to help pay to extend the fence out a bit so that this sits out of sight a little bit. 

3. I don't want to see me taking less in rent because of this. It is a duplex. Taking $150 off per month off each unit would be $3600/year. Is there a legal claim here?

Thanks

@Zul Hirani, 
I paid for the design and engineering on my own. The builder did not apply his 9% to those costs. However, I did pay the 9% on the permit fees since I let the builder handle all of the work associated with submitting the permit, dealing with the city, doing the review, etc... I could have probably done this myself, but was very busy at the time. So, he does charge, but it is at the same 9% of the cost. However, I did write a check directly to the city for the permit and did not go through my builder. If I have my builder do it, I would have paid tax as it is related to building. Since I paid the city directly, I did not pay sales tax on the permit fee.

@Mike Wood, I got bids from 3 builders. 9%, and the other 2 at 10%. The builder I went with is someone I know do lots of work with. I know their weak spots and strong spots. I like the concept of paying on the actual invoices. 

Jack. My original budget was to spend $380K on the build-out. I still may be there, but it appears I will be coming in lower than that. I don't think I have $200K worth of build yet to do, but I'm still planning on it being that amount. 

3 bed, 2.5 bath. No yard. I will be asking for $1800/side so $3600 monthly income.  

Taxes are $400 month. Insurance will be $100/month. Tenants pay all utilities. I run them myself. 

For the 1st year, all repairs are paid by the builder. Also, this is a brand new unit. No CapX for at least 7 years. 

I've not been billed for plumbing yet which has been done, but not on the current bill. 
The will start air-sealing Monday and I expect insulation will begin on Tuesday. I'm doing BIBS and then drywall will go up later in the week. 

I'm in the middle of a duplex build on a small piece of property that I've owned for a few years. I thought I'd share what I've spent so far and see if there are questions/comments I can share. 

I often see discussions of trying to determine the cost to build new. The arrangement I have with my builder is I'm 100% at a cost/plus model. In other words, I pay the actual invoices from the subs and the builder adds a 9% fee on top of it. There are no hidden costs anywhere, except if done by the subs. A good example of this was a credit I got from the lumber company. Then sent more lumber than was required, so when it was sitting along the house, I made sure it was always covered and protected. When they picked it up, there was no chance they could claim damage due to rain or anything like that. I got a refund check of $2400 for the lumber not used on the project. 

The way my draws work are this. On the 25th of the month, the builder submits to me all invoices from the subs received so far. They ask me to provide them a check by the 5th, so they can cut checks to the subs on the 10th. 

I also found an error this week where the builder had already charged me for the water/sewer hook up fees up front. Than, they put these bills into the monthly invoice when the actual bills came from the city. I found it and had my invoice for this month reduced by almost $11,000. 

Property. Duplex at 1650sq/foot per side. 

Thanks everyone,

I think what I'm trying to prevent is getting a walk through in July, for an early August move-in. I miss out on a month of income at the very time when my payments are due, but I have no rental income to cover. I can pick it from other sources, but want my projects to fund themselves.

Building a duplex and the current time line has occupancy date on July 6. 

Backing up in the schedule:
Cabinets installed on June 6
Granite installed on June 19
Appliances on June 21
Carpet on June 29.

I would like to start putting ads on Zillow and Trulia in early June, as it would be great to have someone selected and ready to move in as early in July as possible. However, I do know that there are some people who can not see beyond the construction mess and I could lose out on someone. Also, from a cash-flow perspective, it would be fantastic to have the deposits come in during June. But I also know that getting the best tenant is much better than getting the wrong family just to get the money flowing.

I've thought about putting out a post and having the June weekly check-points included. So, that anyone reading the post will know the schedule and decide when they would like to come over. The longer they wait, they may lose the place. 

In my area, this should be a high-demand property. 

Any advice?

I am right in the middle of doing this, as in RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE!

Each side is 1650sq/ft. I picked the land up several years ago from a business deal. Value of the land is in the $70K range.

I had to design and engineer the plans due to small lot size. Pay for engineering and permits. I have a builder who provides me with the invoices, and adds 9% fee. 

I'm looking at about $95/foot for the build, not counting the land. Adding permits and design fees brings me close to $100/foot. Both sides will be rented.